Nyck de Vries will join the F1 grid full-time in 2023 aged 28 with AlphaTauri after impressing in a one-time appearance for Williams at Monza this year.
Although de Vries is older than more than half of the F1 grid, he has gained a wealth of experience in other categories such as Formula 2 and Formula E, as well as working with Mercedes in F1 as a as reserve pilot.
De la Rosa made his F1 debut aged 28 with Arrows in 1999, and went on to enjoy spells with Jaguar, McLaren and Sauber before finishing his final season aged 41 in 2012 with HRT.
The Spaniard said he had spoken with a Formula 3 driver who was already canceling his chances of reaching F1 because he thought he was too old at 20 – which the Spaniard believed was a mistake .
“Being younger doesn’t mean you’re better or faster or quicker,” said de la Rosa, who is now an Aston Martin ambassador.
“I am still against the age sticker, because I myself suffered from it. Sometimes I’ve been in teams where they took another rider, saying maybe he wasn’t faster, but he was younger. And it’s a killer.
“When I’ve been in these meetings and they tell you this, there’s nothing worse than that. They can tell you that we think the other driver is faster than you, OK. But the age label is terrible.
“So I’m of the opinion that younger doesn’t necessarily mean faster.”
Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren MP4/21-Mercedes-Benz
De la Rosa went on to explain that he felt he had a serious chance of securing a McLaren seat for the 2008 season, when he was 36, following the team’s split with Fernando Alonso. . He had worked with McLaren as a test and reserve driver since 2003, and finished the second half of the 2006 campaign following the exit of Juan Pablo Montoya.
But the team eventually signed Heikki Kovalainen, who was 10 years younger than de la Rosa. He picked up a win and two podiums in two years at McLaren as he struggled to match Lewis Hamilton’s form before being dropped to make way for Jenson Button in 2010.
“Maybe it wasn’t so clear then, but what they were telling me was [a possibility], yes,” de la Rosa said. “And if you look at some pictures, I even cut my hair really short! It did not work…
“I totally disagree with [the decision]. But it’s your opinion against others. And fair enough actually, it was a gap of 10 years.
“In a way they’re right, because at the end of the day sometimes we think a younger driver is going to develop, improve and improve over the years. Some drivers don’t improve.
“Some riders are already very good and stabilize, some decline, some progress. So every athlete is different.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, Pedro de la Rosa
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
De la Rosa admitted the possibility that what he might have accomplished in the McLaren seat “would always hang over my head”.
“Sometimes I think I would have had the same fight as Heikki,” he said.
“Maybe I would have been better for the team. Would I have beaten Lewis? Certainly not. But maybe that was my strength, that I knew it was not my goal to beat him.
“I think even before 2007, one of the few people on earth other than Anthony, his dad and the people who raced against Lewis, I was one of the only guys who realized he was special.
“I had tested with him, I had been in the simulator with him, I had known him for many years before. And I always said to McLaren, this guy is very special.
